Interchangeable Things
by FanMangZhong
Summary: The away trip is a disaster, and Shinoda has a crush on Sawamura Kyoko. The untimely invasions aren't helping either. Meanwhile, the agents and staff of Border -along with some nosy Neighbours- are determined to get the two together! This fic has been rewritten due to it's general yuckiness and is now known as A Million Up on ao3.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does. **

I'm just someone who enjoys it.

He just wanted to sleep. While Shinoda was glad that Kido had finally allowed another expedition to the Neighbourhood, he did not appreciate having to finish a week's work of paperwork first. He had even briefly considered passing on the position of commander to Rindou in his desperation to avoid doing more.

Now he wished that he had.

Silently, he cursed whoever that had drawn up the ship's floor plan that had led to a sleepless night on the floor.

Why was he and Kyoko in the same room?

A nice room with plenty of amenities, yes, and spacious, yes, but a room with just one bed?

He had a feeling that Rindou was behind it.

Someone would be on the receiving end of Viper very soon.

The Neighbour with burgundy hair sniffed at him disdainfully. "That's their tactician? I was expecting someone more alert."

Shinoda sighed and closed his eyes, praying that it was a dream.

Behind him, he could hear someone stumble down the steps.

"V-v-viza?" Hyuse stammered.

Shinoda could practically feel the old man grin.

"Lord Hyuse! You cannot fathom how overjoyed I am to see you again, despite the unfavourable circumstances."

"Can't say the same for you." Miwa grunted from somewhere further behind Shinoda.

He opened his eyes, resigned to the fact that somehow, the small army of horned neighbours and black trigger users would have to be defeated. Already, he had been scheming, and couldn't think of anything other than using trion in his real body to buy time while the others escaped on the ship.

Viza was still grinning in a delighted manner, and his grin only widened when he saw Shinoda assess the situation.

"Ah, the young commander rises! I must say, I was very much impressed by your strategy against Enedera - especially the trick with the wind. You simply must show me how you did it when we return to Miden!"

Hairein gave Viza a look.

"I must ask you to refrain from returning to Miden, Viza. Right now, we have to protect Aftrokrator's technology before it is stolen away for research."

The elder smiled craftily. "But if the technology was willingly given, perhaps as a token to build trust?"

Mira narrowed her eyes. "Viza, what are you implying? Do you wish to desert Aftrokrator, the Holy Land? Do you wish to turn your back and let the House Ellin's scarifice be in vain?"

"Mira…" Hairein warned. "Any more, and we will have to dispose of Hyuse."

"Dispose of?" cried Osamu. "Hyuse isn't something to be disposed of! Wasn't he a part of your team?"

Mira levelled a cool sneer at him. "Well, if it isn't the protective big brother. Don't misunderstand, boy. Hyuse was on this team simply because Lord Ellin requested it. The Lord just didn't want his poor adoptive son to be a hostage like everyone else, that's all. Of course, now that he's here…" She smirked, Speiraskia in hand.

Shinoda glanced at Hyuse, who looked stricken.

"I just wanted to return to Aftrokrator…" he whispered. "I just wanted to see Master one more time… and Mother too…"

Viza gazed at him sadly, his face now solemn.

"I'm sorry, Hyuse. As of now, you are the only member of the House Ellin not held hostage. I apologize for not stopping them. I was bound by my duty as a soldier of Aftrokrator."

He leant on Organon wearily.

"The former Lord asked me to do everything in power to protect you, Hyuse. I had hoped leaving you in Miden would be enough, but you are as resourceful as ever, and have managed to find your way back here. Now I realise that it won't be enough. You need protection, a bodyguard, a monster of some sorts by your side. I am old, Hyuse, and my reflexes are not like they used to be. I may be able to defeat a small army, but if Aftrokrator was to send an team of Black Trigger users after you… I fear the worst."

He drew his hand out of his cloak, holding something carefully.

"I cannot afford to wait for someone to learn to use Organon, so I shall create a monster instead." Here, he turned his attention to Shinoda, who was taking in the scene with rapt attention.

"You will be the monster, young commander. I've seen you fight before, during the two previous invasions. I've seen you use your side-effects to the maximum and seen you use a Black Trigger before. You may be a commander for most part, but I know you are a fighter. You care. You care for the people you know and for those that you don't."

He paused in his speech as he offered the trigger he cupped in his hand.

"So take this." he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

"Take this trigger, and protect your world, and everyone you hold dear."

Mira's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps your brain has been addled by your old age, Viza. Even if you were to offer such a request, what reason does he have to trust you? You are a citizen of Aftrokrator."

Privately, most of the Border agents agreed with her. He had been the forefront of the destruction during the last invasion, and had just revealed that he was present in the one 5 years ago as well.

Not exactly the best way to cultivate a trusting relationship.

Viza sighed, activating Organon.

Instantly, his red haired companion was cut down, while Mira managed to warp herself and Hairein to safety.

"Lamvanein!" he cried, as his younger brother's trion body was shredded.

They could only just stare blankly as the Neighbour bailed out.

Shinoda sloshed the strange trigger that Viza had offered in his hands. It had a unique consistency to it, similar to oobleck, triggering memories of Konami's first attempts at curry.

"What do we do?" Kyoko whispered.

He avoided her gaze as he played with the trigger.

"Everyone on the ship." he ordered after a short period of silence.

Protests emerged from behind him, as they clamoured to be allowed to fight.

Their shouts were quelled by the strange look in his eyes which left no room for argument.

Silently, but reluctantly, they boarded the ship.

Only Kyoko and Hyuse were left.

"Director…What do you intend to do?"

He ignored her, instead choosing to address Hairein.

"If I were to turn Hyuse over to you… What would you do?"

Hairein was taken aback. He hadn't expected the commander to give up Hyuse so easily. He would have to speak carefully.

"I would kill him. Hyuse is a threat to Aftrokrator. People may rally behind him regarding the fall of the House Ellin. It would lead to a crisis. Aftrokrator would lose it's status as the Holy Land and the Lord Ellin's sacrifice would be in vain."

Shinoda studied the gloopy trigger in his hands as Hairein spoke, experientially dipping his normal trigger into it.

The gloop spread and swallowed his trigger greedily, until it was completely covering the surface, encasing it a smooth black coat with a symbol oddly reminiscent of Old Border's insignia.

Kido would have a fit if he saw it, mused Shinoda, while Rindou would probably proclaim that it was a sign that their factions should merge.

Kyoko stared at the encased trigger, her amazement at the strange trigger overpowering her shock at her superior's appearance.

"For the greater good?" he asked while turning over the combination of triggers gently, examining it.

Mira nodded impatiently, annoyed at how he was taking his time.

His voice became frigid upon her response.

"Lieutenant." he said with forced warmth. "Kindly escort Hyuse and Viza onto the away ship."

She shook her head. "I'm staying with you, sir. I can't let you fight them all alone."

He still refused to look at her. "This is an order, lieutenant."

"I'm supposed to be your aide," she insisted. "What use am I if I can't support you in the battlefield?"

Hairein gave the two a look. _Couldn't he just admit that he didn't want her to be hurt? _He was getting tired of being ignored in favour of their protective bickering, and had a niggling feeling that Mira and his fellow countrymen shared the same thought.

Swallowing his embarrassment, Shinoda looked Kyoko in the eyes and gave her a dose of the patented sympathetic Shinoda smile (his family had a variety of them, ranging from condensing all the way to one that he was told could melt the heart of anyone, even if he was wearing a mask).

He must have accidentally gave her a larger dose than normal, as she flushed and shifted her gaze.

"Miss Sawamura," he said, adopting his most gentlemanly tone. "I have no desire to see you hurt, even if in your trion body."

He rested his free hand on her shoulder lightly, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"You're too important to me." he said simply, his eyes filled with genuine worry.

If Kyoko hadn't worked under him for the last 5 years, she would have most likely been swooning. She settled for burning his face into her mind permanently while blushing instead.

Viza resisted the urge to smirk at the two Border officials, deciding to capture the image of Mira gaping over the commander's charming smile.

"Be careful." She mumbled, reluctant to leave.

He gave her a lopsided smile. "It's in my nature, darling."

Internally, he cringed at the line usually reserved for the adoring press but forged on.

"Trigger On."

A mechanical voice spoke.

"Black Trigger Antarakishimosu has been activated."

"Side Effect: Apex Predator and Sub Effect: Survival Instinct has been detected, along with an unknown side effect that cannot be triggered in trion form."

"Initializing trion body with the selected trigger."

Inside the control room, Kyoko gave Viza a suspicious look.

"Isn't Antarakishimosu from Chion? How did you get it?"

He smiled at her patiently.

"I encourage inquisitive thinking, but perhaps it would be more prudent if we focused on your darling - sorry, daring - commander instead."

She turned to monitor the battle on a computer panel, irked, muttering about obnoxious men sticking their noses into her business.

Viza wasn't wrong about him being daring.

The neighbours had been warned about his precise slashes and had planned accordingly, but were now facing a very different attack.

Shinoda, dressed dashingly in a military trench coat, had abandoned his usual strategy of cutting down enemies with Kogetsu, and was instead employing Izumi's favourite strategy. Bombarding them with Meteor.

Fuelled on by his boosted trion reserves, he manipulated the terrain with a sea of Escudo, creating a chaotic landscape that rose and sank.

"The commander's going all out," Viza commented as they watched him blast through the army of neighbours. "I didn't see him use this type of attack last time."

Shinoda ignored Viza's voice over the intercom, focusing on the final two targets instead.

The two Black Trigger users.

Mira gave him an incredulous look.

"And just when I thought he was a sword swinging strategist." she complained. "Turns the maniac is a jack of all trades."

He frowned at her choice of words.

"I'm not a mani-" he began, but was cut off by Hairein.

"No matter. We will end this fight now." he said, surrounded by wall of animal-shaped trion bullets.

Mira smiled wickedly, a black portal already forming.

She was not expecting a barrage of bullets in response.

"Smart. Forcing me to open a new portal to buy time." she said grudgingly, abandoning her initial portal to redirect the bullets.

"It's not yet over~" he chirped, narrowly avoiding a swarm of bees through a series of well timed Escudo-boosted jumps.

Right as the bullets were about to sink into the inky darkness of the portal, their trajectories changed to a sharp right turn, before swinging back to whiz towards the neighbours.

"Viper." Osamu breathed. "The Director's a shooter?"

"Tomahawk," Kyoko corrected. "A combination of Meteor and Viper."

They watched in silent awe as Mira's body was engulfed by a series of explosions.

Hairein gazed at the light trail as she bailed out, disappointed.

"Her trigger would have made this easier," he said mournfully, as shoal of fish made to attack Shinoda.

"A shame." he returned dryly, blasting the fish with Meteor.

"Indeed." Hairein sighed. "It seems as though I will have to invest all of my trion in an all out-attempt to beat you."

"Likewise."

"He's going to get himself captured..." Kyoko muttered.

"Have faith, darling lieutenant." came Shinoda's voice over the intercom. "I have yet to lose."

Fighting the urge to blush, she rolled her eyes instead.

Viza tried not to laugh.

Uncaring, Hairein levelled his gaze.

"This is where the battle ends, commander."

Smouldering eyes stared back defiantly.

A very short summary of what's going in the story right now:

Basically, they're on the away mission to the Neighbourhood to get new tech and look for survivors, but encounter the Aftrokrator guys. I kinda have this fantasy that Viza left Hyuse behind to protect him on behalf of Lord Ellin's wishes. Anyway, someone told Aftrokrator that they would be heading by so they came prepared to hopefully steal some triggers to improve their own, and perhaps a few baby birds for later (Luckily no one saw Chika).

I won't be revealing everything about the new Black Trigger Antarakishimosu just yet, but here's a few things I don't mind giving away.

The name comes from the Greek work for interchangeable/exchangeable, antallaximos. Any guesses why?

It's also compatible with at least 8 people at Border (including the branches!), and a few other characters who have yet to be introduced or have their true natures revealed. Unless Ashihara-sensei decides to add any changes in the manga.

As for the new Side Effects, I'll be explaining them in the next chapter.

Most of the story came from a weird (but entertaining) daydream during Maths. I've since fantasized about it for weeks, randomly planning out the story during lessons and in bed, playing it out in my mind but never really writing it.

Please rate and review! (And share if you want (ᵔᴥᵔ) )


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does. **

**I'm just someone who enjoys it.**

Smouldering eyes stared back defiantly.

Caught in the glow of trion, they stared each other down, unwavering.

A casual flick of a hand, than chaos.

Bullets against bullets.

Animals against cubes.

Commander against commander.

Accompanying the booming explosions were plumes of rising smoke, obscuring the vision of those in the ship.

It wasn't until the smoke finally started to clear, that they could make out the faint silhouette of the two men.

"Director?"

He grinned through the dissipating smoke in response.

Hairein gave him a forlorn look, then, abandoning his bullet-ridden trion body, joined the rest of his comrades streaking across the sky.

Shinoda turned to face the ship, still grinning.

They all cheered.

Even Miwa, albeit softly.

All was good.

As if.

Shinoda knew there was something wrong when he got on the ship.

He clutched his stomach with one hand as his head spun, the other gripping the wall for support.

"Director-sama!" Shun cried.

"Contain yourself!" he snapped in a rare instance of crabbiness, fighting the urge to puke.

Shinoda didn't hear Shun's apologies as he leaned over to vomit in a nearby trash can.

Kyoko took charge.

"Chika! Get me a glass of water! Yuma, some motion-sickness pills!" she ordered.

The white-haired shrimp raised his hand in question.

"What are motion-sickness pi-"

Osamu got them instead.

2 pills and a sip of water later, his nausea became slightly more bearable, although he could have done without the crowd surrounding him.

Vomit temporarily at bay, he stood up unsteadily.

"We're heading back today." Shinoda said. "Take a break and relax for now. Shift duties will be posted later."

Osamu opened his mouth to object, but was interrupted by the sound of the Director vomiting.

His headache was back in full force.

"Out." he managed to order, before turning away to vomit in a handy paper bag.

He sat back down heavily while the agents shuffled back to their quarters.

"Right." he said, turning back to face Viza. "How did you come across Antarakishimosu? It's not from your country."

Viza gave him a placid smile.

"While that is an excellent question, I would instead recommend you to focus on the aftermath of your side-effects first."

Shinoda waved his hand airily with all the grace he could muster. "An interesting proposition. Unfortunately, my question takes precedence."

The elder produced a small bottle of pills from his cloak. "A pity too, since I just happen to have some motion-sickness pills that should be able to help."

Shinoda rolled his eyes in response, instantly regretting it when his headache intensified.

"I doubt it," He said, "For all I know, they could be narcotics."

He gave Viza the most suspicious look he could manage.

Kyoko had no such qualms.

She turned to him, pills in hand.

"Swallow." She ordered.

He wilted.

Grudgingly, he took them, forcing the bitter tablets down.

The spinning stopped.

Astonished, he turned to the elder once more, his mind brimming with questions.

Viza smiled serenely as the commander stared at him with undisguised curiosity.

"How-?"

Kyoko kicked his chair.

"Dinner first."

They hastened to follow her orders.

**-LINE BREAK-**

The elderly neighbour grimaced at his meal.

No wine, no gin, no whiskey…

"Is there even any alcohol on this ship?" he complained.

The two officers gave him bemused looks over their food - ramen for the Director, chestnut rice for the Lieutenant.

"Most agents are minors, and we don't really encourage drinking…" Kyoko ventured.

His eyes widened in horror.

"Then what do you officers do in your free time? Surely you don't spend all your time working…" He trailed off as the younger man innocently pulled out a stack of paperwork.

"Carry on." he said, dark eyes widening guilelessly as he began filling out forms.

The scene was ruined when Kyoko smacked them off the table.

"Director! You're not supposed to be doing my paperwork!"

He smiled at her sheepishly (employing another of his family's patented smiles), picking up the scattered papers.

She gave him a disgruntled look, but grudgingly accepted the proffered papers.

Viza tried his best to disguise his adoration at their cute dynamic.

He probably hadn't done a good job as the younger officer abruptly changed the subject.

"The Black Trigger." he said. "Didn't it originate from Chion?"

The neighbour savoured his meal, chewing slowly.

"Antarakishimosu is an oddity, even among Black Triggers. It's the only one to be shared among the various nations, and there is an extensive database of compatible users."

"A shared trigger?" he asked in disbelief. "And a database for compatibility?"

The lieutenant clearly shared his apprehension as she pursed her lips.

"It seems far-fetched, doesn't it?" Viza responded.

"But I can assure you, there is a good reason behind it. For one with such high compatibility, there aren't many people actually able to use it, and if there's one thing we Neighbours hate, it's having an excellent trigger go to waste."

Kyoko stabbed a rather unfortunate chestnut viciously.

"I thought you said that there was a high compatibility rate?"

Viza winced in response.

"Yes, well, there are two types of compatibility. Technically, there is an extremely high activation rate, but the people who can use it properly are usually limited to those with a specific side effect."

He cleared his throat.

"Official records are far lower than the activation rate - maybe a tenth at most."

"The reason being..?"

"The creator of Antarakishimosu had a Side-Effect not unlike yours - similar, but slightly different. It's something that was then imbued into the trigger itself, and thus refuses to allow anyone without a Side-Effect activate it. Of course, that's just the bare minimum."

He waved his hands expansively.

"To fully embrace its potential, one has to have the same type of Side-Effect as the creator - while there have been a few veterans who managed to use Antarakishimosu well without such a Side-Effect, it's still impossible to fully utilize it."

Shinoda rubbed the back of his neck.

"So we've established that Antarakishimosu is picky. It lets people activate it, but not use it properly. That still doesn't answer how it came into your possession."

Viza raised his hands in a placating manner.

"Patience, young commander." he said easily.

"An old friend of mine gave it to me for safekeeping, as he had yet to find a proper successor. He also happened to be eager to see how Antarakishimosu would fare in your hands."

Viza beamed at the two officers.

The younger man groused at his terrible luck.

No sleep, another Black Trigger to take care of, and a Neighbour to deal with.

The main reason being that a couple of old men were simply interested to see how the finicky trigger would react to him.

He let out a muffled groan as he calculated the amount of paperwork Viza was worth.

Kyoko gave him a sympathetic look as she followed his train of thought.

Pulling himself together, he turned to the Neighbour once more.

"And the Side-Effect?" he asked dully.

The elder man looked positively delighted at the question, a far cry from cantankerous fossil he had been upon learning about the ship's lack of alcohol.

"Now that, young commander, is the most important question."

"Official records show that such a Side-Effect isn't uncommon – it's by far the most common of all the documented ones." He said, taking a sip of tea.

"Unfortunately, they're really not that useful. Most of the manifestations are too weak or can't hold their own in battle. The most powerful users to date were the frog, followed by my friend the rabbit."

Kyoko tried not to laugh.

From the way her superior had his hand clamped over his mouth, he was having trouble as well.

"A frog? And a rabbit?" she asked, fighting the giggles that threatened to interrupt.

Viza smiled obliviously.

"You underestimate their power – for it is no common garden frog I speak of, but a Hairy Frog! The frog with the ability to protrude bones through its skin in response to an attack!" he cried dramatically.

She caught her superior's eye as he let out a soft snort.

"And the power of the Silver Marten!" The Neighbour thundered.

"An exquisite creature with a sensitive nose and outstanding jumping abilities!"

It was when Shinoda started miming bunny ears that she lost control, dissolving into giggles.

He joined her soon after, snickering softly first, than bursting into laughter.

His laughs only served to make the situation even funnier, and the two were soon slumped on their chairs, giggling.

Apologizing profusely, they sat back up as proper as they could, the relative silence only occasionally broken by a stray snort.

Viza waved aside their apologies with a smidgen of embarrassment.

"I'm afraid I should be the one apologizing, for I have forgotten that such Side-Effects are not common here."

The corners of their mouths quirked slightly as they remembered the dramatic wording that the elder had used.

He coughed delicately.

"Anyhow, the manifestation is the deciding factor. Most users have rather… benign creatures."

"Benign?"

"The frog was the most aggressive one…"

The elderly Neighbour pointed at Shinoda with a flourish, startling the duo.

"Until you appeared, young commander!"

"Pardon?"

"An apex predator!" he cried. "Never has there been a documented case !"

He seized the younger man's hands and stared at him.

"Combined with your versatile triggers, the output would be astronomical!"

Shinoda removed his hands from Viza's vice-like grip while he fawned on.

Kyoko broke Viza out of his spiel.

"And what exactly does the Director's Side-Effect do?"

He gave them an incredulous look.

"Did none of you sense the potency? The spike in fear, the tension, the delayed reactions? Isn't it obvious?"

"Blood lust!" He roared, waving Organon.

"Couldn't you sense the waves rolling off him?" he demanded.

"All of us were practically stiff in fear, while your agents were frolicking around you!"

Shinoda looked towards Kyoko for backup, eyes wide in confusion.

"Fear! The most powerful of emotions - it can distort logic and reason, paralyse even the best of men! A Side-Effect most befitting such a dynamic predator."

Viza forged on relentlessly.

"With your Sub-Effect in play as well, the power would be near limitless -" he paused at their confused looks, before sighing heavily.

"Please forgive this old man's ageing mind - I keep forgetting that you know nothing about the Side-Effects of our world. Like the name suggests, the Sub-Effect taps into the most primal instinct - self preservation. As the old adage goes, a wounded animal is a dangerous animal. In this case, the more trion damage or loss, the more destructive the attacks will be."

Shinoda leaned forwards, mind racing.

"How much more destructive? Is it a linear increase? Or is a sudden spike? What type of destructiveness?"

Viza pursed his lips.

"It's effects aren't massively game-changing, but I would suspect that an apex predator would have a larger spike than other creatures. Destructiveness-wise, it varies. Some users' trion become faintly explosive, but again, the effects aren't really apparent."

Shinoda could feel his head spin at all the new information, though his lieutenant seemed to be strangely at ease.

Osamu chose that exact moment to enter the control room.

"Director, sir, we can't go back!" he cried, face wrought with emotion.

"We're supposed to look for survivors, we can't just return empty-handed!"

Shinoda was saved from responding by Kyoko.

"Right now, we have a target painted on our backs. Two Neighbours from Aftrokrator, a national treasure, and a Black Trigger shared by the whole Neighbourhood. No one is staying."

He waved his approval half-heartedly, before feeling a rather familiar lurch.

"Um, yes." he said, realizing that he was supposed to speak. "With the presence of Galopoula, it would be best if we headed back as soon as possible."

"But-"

"Dismissed." Shinoda said hurriedly, trying to push the younger boy out of the rapidly spinning room.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think -"

"Out!" he ordered desperately, fighting the waves of nausea that threatened to drown him.

Osamu dug his heels in, refusing to forced out of the door.

"Director, the lives of people are at -"

At this point, the room was spiralling wildly as he lunged towards the waste-bin by the door.

For some reason, Osamu was still standing in front of him.

"Sir, we can't just leave-"

Unable to stop himself, he threw up over the poor boy.

Kikuchihara wrinkled his nose delicately as the sound of vomiting filled his ears.

"Apologies." Shinoda muttered to a vomit-encrusted Osamu as he heaved the rest of his dinner into the waste-bin.

Needless to say, Osamu didn't stick around.

This time, he didn't hesitate when Viza offered the pills.

Kyoko glared at the old man as she struggled to hold her superior up.

"I thought those were for motion-sickness!" she hissed.

He shrugged in response as he watched Kyoko deposit Shinoda onto a nearby chair.

"They are. They're just very a specific type of narcotics designed to knock out users so they won't suffer from motion sickness."

"Unbelievable." she muttered, straightening the Director's tie.

**Yay! Most of the technical stuff regarding ****Antarakishimosu**** and the Side-Effects are done! Personally, I'm not really feeling the Black Trigger's name as it is a bit too wordy for my liking. Let me know if you have any suggestions!**

**Again, I'm super sorry for the gap in updates - I'm taking Chemistry, Maths and Biology and my new school has four tests assigned for the sciences alone next week, and I've been told to expect more, so updates will probably be monthly, until term break in November at least.**

** Story-wise, this chapter kinda felt bland to me, so do please leave a review and tell me if there's anything I can do to improve or edit it (or anything relating to the story so far in general). Criticism is welcome!**

**And of course, thank you to everyone who read or left a review on the last chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own World Trigger!****! Daisuke Ashihara does. **

(Changes from italics to normal font means different units are talking)

**-EXTREMELY LOUD FOGHORN NOISE-**

They were both jolted out of sleep as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Kinuta's barked across the room, followed by giggling.

Kyoko woke from her chair to a mildly terrifying view, her brain greeted by the vision of the rest of the upper management circling them.

Shinoda was met with an unfortunately much more terrifying view, with Kido standing directly in front of him and gazing down in silence, flanked by Viza and Rindou, who both had identical grins plastered on their faces.

Kinuta scowled, making his annoyance even more profoundly known.

"I thought this was going to be a week-long expedition!" he barked. "Do you know how much trion I used to fuel the ship? And after we went through all that effort of defending the ship from Galapoula - "

Kido held his hand up for silence, stopping the pudgy man mid-rant.

"Two black triggers were gained. A veteran neighbour has joined Border, willing to join arms, along with the Tamakoma prisioner."

"Former prisoner!" Rindou chirped. "He's agreed to continue helping Border as well!"

"A valuable asset, and potential candidate for Fujin." Kinuta muttered.

"Useful for PR as well," Netsuki mused. "If we can get the boy to smile, we might be able to get some favourable press."

It was then that Kido turned his stony gaze to Shinoda.

"Punishment for wasting trion -"

"BUT-"

"Not paperwork-"

"No, I'll take paperwor-"

"Trigger research."

"And PR." he added as an afterthought.

Shinoda mentally tripled the amount of work the expedition had caused.

Netsuki clapped his hands in delight.

"We could have an Exhibition Match!"

"Over my dead body." Shinoda muttered.

**-LINE BREAK-**

A week later, he was stuck in the conference room, arms crossed defiantly.

"No." he said firmly, willing his Side-Effect to kick in and scare everyone out of their stupidity.

"We are not having an Exhibition Match."

Netsuki gazed at him nervously over his 56-page PowerPoint presentation.

"But it's good press!" he argued.

Rindou grinned from across Shinoda.

"Aw, c'mon! It'll be fun!"

Kinuta nodded his head slowly.

"It would certainly be useful to see how Antarakishimosu fends against our agents..."

"Karasawa?" Rindou prompted.

"It would certainly be fun to watch," the younger man drawled. "And probably send quite a few donations our way…"

"I refuse to take part in this ridiculous exercise-"

"All you have to do is beat them up!"

"Assuming I agree to take part, what's stopping me from just using Salamander on everyone?"

"No one's telling you to use Salamander all the time!" Rindou sighed, exasperated. "Just use it with Kogetsu or something - get everyone's blood pumping, yeah?"

"Please don't talk like that."

"Masafumi," Kido rumbled. "You _will_ take part in this exercise. Or else…"

"You will find yourself taking in part in the upcoming classical movie marathon." He said, eyes flashing ominously.

"Okay." Shinoda gulped. "No problem."

Rindou grinned at his friend's sudden obedience in the face of suffering through another marathon.

"Excellent! Let's go beat up our ickle-little rankers!"

Miwa twitched angrily behind Kido.

**-LINEEEE BREAKKKK-**

"Right, so you're going to be the bait," Shinoda said. "And the both of us will cover you as much as possible

"Awww, look at you, getting so into the exhibition match!" Rindou cooed.

Kinuta and Kyoko shifted uncomfortably from their positions while Shinoda gave Rindou a stony glare.

"On second thought, let's just cut him down first." He snapped. "We might as well get all the free points possible."

"With all due respect sir, I don't think we're allowed to do that." Kyoko replied.

"Unless you want to watch The Great Escape again." Kinuta mumbled.

Shinoda grimaced.

"Just stick to the original plan."

**-VARIOUS PEOPLE SHOUTING IN THEIR SQUAD ROOMS-**

"Don't you dare give me Yosuke's headband again-"

_"Wait, so are we just sticking with the normal plan? Just sticking Kogetsu through Yuiga?"_

"WATCH OUT FOR MY DOUBLE SNIPE!"

_"Do you think we should invite Kyoko over for fried rice after this?"_

_"But what if Director Shinoda kicks us out Border for poisoning her?_

"Do not engage with the Director-"

"Like with an engagement ring?"

"You know perfectly what I meant."

_"Make sure Ibis is loaded."_

_"What about the prototype for Koge- hey, isn't that Reiji's trigger?"_

**Sorry for the very untimely updates - school life is super hectic.**

**And as long as school remains hectic, so will updates.**

**Thanks for sticking around anyways!**

(I live for reviews - thanks to everyone who did!)


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does.**

**Edit: Found that some words and line breaks got deleted, already fixed. **

**Re:Edit: I keep finding problems when formatting when I reupload new chapters, but this should be the final edit. I hope.**

* * *

The Rank-Wars-turned-Exhibition-Match-Room was completely jam-packed.

C-rankers and journalists jostled for space, while B-rankers retreated to the relative safety of their squad rooms.

(In Takakoma's case, the living room.)

"For everyone who hasn't seen this before, participants are placed randomly on a pre-set map. Points will be awarded on who deals the most damage per death, and additional survival points will be added at the end of the match." Azuma explained.

Kido nodded for extra emphasis.

"Yosh!" Usami cried.

As the resounding cheer died out, the match began.

"There's actually a pretty even spread," Karasawa drawled. "Kageura Squad's probably got the best coordinates - they're all practically next to each other. Tachikawa's going to have a tough time, he's nowhere near Izumi and is stuck with Kitora."

"Miwa's near Kitora as well, but knowing him, he'll get Bagworm on and wait for the other two attackers to duke it out." Azuma said. "The upper management on the other hand, are having a pretty rough spawn."

"It might be possible for the Lieutenant and Director Rindou to meet up, but they're definitely going to run into Izumi. Director Shinoda's mostly surrounded by the rest of Miwa squad as well- oh, there goes Yuiga. Kazama's already got the first point of the match." he continued. "And there he goes again, fading out into his trademark Chamele-"

**-Line Break-**

"Directo Rindou."

"Izumi."

"Rindou!" Kinuta hissed. " Get out of the firing zone! How's the plan going to work if you're just standing there?"

"Calm down," he said, ducking into a nearby building to avoid the bullets Izumi was shooting (quite rudely) at him. "Masafumi can still do it."

Shinoda huffed up the final flight of stairs, annoyed. "You just had to run into Izumi in the first five minutes."

"But isn't this so much more fun?" Rindou sang, rolling away from another torrent of bullets, courtesy of Izumi.

"Not particularly." he muttered as he deactivated Bagworm,revealing the handsome dress uniform.

"Tomahawk!" he sneezed, summoning a flurry of cubes on the empty rooftop.

**oOoOo**

Izumi cursed as Rindou rolled away from his bullets yet again, quickly abandoning his initial plan of using Meteora, switching to Tomahawk instead.

Unfortunately, it was all for naught, and as the blue sky was lit up to a dazzling green, it became apparent that the Director had already beaten him to it.

"Jeez, the Director's always such a pain to fight! Why can't he just let us win for once?" the younger man complained, forced to pull up both of his shields as he dashed into a nearby house.  
"Aw, you know Masafumi's a sweetheart." Rindou said loudly, though more for his and Azuma's own amusement to see how Kyoko would react later rather then for his friend's defence. "I'm sure he didn't mean to rile you up."

Shinoda made sure a few of his bullets swerved past his supposed best friend.

The two shooters emerged from their hiding places a few minutes later, Rindou in mild surprise, Izumi in shock.

**-LINE BREAK-**

Most of the audience in the Rank Wars room shared Izumi's feelings.

"He destroyed the entire street!"

"He didn't hit Izumi!"

"He tried to hit Director Rindou!"

"He didn't hit Director Rindou!"

Azuma tried not to laugh as he started up the commentary.  
There would be plenty of time for that later.

"Right, after that startling revelation by Director Rindou, the two shooters are up and running again - though why the Director didn't just shoot Izumi down is beside me-"

"I suspect this has something to do with Kyoko." Kido rumbled. "She's on the street right behind them with Bagworm on."

"But wouldn't it be hard for her to take on Izumi with Rindou? I've heard that although she's a pretty versatile partner, she has a lot of trouble with him." Usami questioned.

"It's true." Azuma confirmed. "She actually works best with the Director - they both share similar trigger sets and have a similar fighting style, preferring clear-cut plans, but they do pretty well with whatever ridiculous plan they have and improvise surprisingly well."

"Stupid plans are exactly what Rindou provides plently of." Karasawa said dryly.

"Jokes aside, the two of them should be able to hold off Izumi long enough for the Director to meet up with them. Although, Rindou doesn't seem to be betting on the Director arriving any time -"

"Escudo!" Rinodu roared, Asteroid bullets forming around him as an Escudo erupted from under Izumi, sending the younger agent flying.

Despite being flung upwards away from the ground, Izumi smirked.

Rindou was completely undefended.

"Meteor!"

Already, the explosive bullets were hurtling towards Rindou - Izumi's smirk widened -  
Until the bullets sank into a shield that hadn't been there before.

His smirk flipped to a frown when he felt himself cut into two.

"Director?" he called, trying to crane his neck to see where the attacker had came from.

**oOoOo**

"I'll make sure to tell the Director that you were looking for him." Kyoko said sweetly, Kogetsu unsheathed.

"That's not what I meant-" he spluttered-

"Massive trion loss detected. Bail out."

Rindou gave Kyoko an innocent look.

"You've been spending far too much time with Masafumi, Lieutenant."

"Need I remind you that we are in the midst of an Exhibition Match, Director Rindou?" she questioned, springing towards the general direction of Shinoda.

"Well, it's a good thing we're going to go find Masafumi," he continued, ignoring her pointed look. "I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you!"

**-PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT RANDOM THINGS IN THEIR TEAM COMS-**

_"___Which do you think Kyoko prefers? Shrimp or Mackerel?"__

_"___Chestnuts."__

_"___That wasn't - why chestnuts?"__

_"___Director Shinoda said that she liked roasted chestnuts."__

_"___How-"  
__

**__oOoOo__**

_"___I told you we should have just killed Yuiga off ourselves! Now Kazama's got a point already!"__

_"___I'm sure it'll be fine-"__

_"___Look! Now Izumi's dead as well!"__

_"___Do you think Kazama brought another potato today?"__

**__oOoOo__**

_"___Kaho."__

_"___Yes, Captain?"__

_"___Protect the potato. I have a bad feeling about what might happen."__

**ADDITONAL THOUGHTS BY AUDIENCE AND OTHER PEOPLE-**

_"___What's going on?"__

**__oOoOo__**

_"___Where's my taiyaki?"__

_"___Hah! Konami didn't notice me eating her taiyaki! Now, on to Chika's!"__

_"___I guess Konami didn't notice Yotaru stealing her snack- oh, there goes Chika's."__

_"___I'll murder him if he steals Yuri's."__

**__oOoOo__**

_"___Not allowed to kill Takumi - not allowed to kill Takumi - not allowed to kill Takumi - Hey, that was a pretty good Senkuu by Kyoko - WAIT NO STOP TAKUMI YOU SLIMY WEASEL- DON'T KILL DON'T KILL DON'T KILL-"__

_"___Why did I let Netsuki convince us to hold this match? I should have listened to Masafumi…" __

__**NOTES:**__  
**Thanks a bunch to everyone who stuck around despite the lack of updates. My laptop of 8 years decided to die suddenly and I lost quite a chunk of this chapter - luckily I write most of the chapters on paper so it wasn't too bad.**

**Also, I have to give major props to the author, Ashihara. How he planned out the Rank Wars and Invasions are way beyond me, given the way he keeps implementing new tactics and managing to make them all feel fresh.**

**As to how Rindou managed to use Escudo, Asteriod and Shield all at the same time… He didn't.**

**That was Kyoko's doing. Given that Escudo has a surprisingly long range and that she's pretty skilled in defense and support, it wouldn't have been too hard for her to pull a few Escudos under Izumi. All Rindou had to do was time it properly - and seeing how Kyoko joined Border the year it was established, I'm assuming that she has worked with him along with quite a few people - mainly with Azuma and Shinoda, probably (Miwa as well, since she was pretty friendly with him during the Galopoula Invasion).**

**Regarding any further updates… While I do have the basic skeletal structures of what happens in the Exhibition Match, I'm still going to take a a fair bit of time writing and rewriting the next few chapters.**

**AND FINALLY…**

**PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW! I'd love to know what you think of the recent chapters, especially what irks you, and what you hate. If you have any suggestions or ideas on what might happen next, do please leave a review. **

**(and is anyone enjoying the extra behind the scenes dialogues**_**?)**_

_**Last question: Is this type of formatting better? Or would you guys like to see more spacing in between? (only in the form of oOoOoOo I'm afraid)**_


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does. **

**Surprised by the early update? I was.**

* * *

"Well, that sure was an interesting turn of events." Karasawa deadpanned.

"Very." Usami agreed.

"And on that note, the upper management have taken out Izumi of Tachikawa squad, one of Border's top shooters." Azuma said.

"An excellent Senkuu by Kyoko." Kido rumbled. "Masafumi would be proud."

"No doubt." Karasawa drawled. "And there's Kitora - she's caught up with Satori already and setting up wires again - Kazama trading blows with Tsuji - oh, Kageura's entered the fray too, and Kazama's gone, probably using Chameleon to get away before Zoe shows up."

"A good choice." Azuma said gravely. "Inukai's already there. It won't be much longer until Ninomiya shows up. Although the Director seems pretty determined to not let Ninomiya meet up with them, if that Ibis is any indication-"

**oOoOo**

"_Ibis?" Konami choked._

"_What's the Director doing with that sniper cannon?" she shrieked._

_Yotaru patted her back comfortingly._

**oOoOo**

Azuma gave a quick double-take as he realised what he had just said.

"Uh, yes, the Director has an Ibis, and he's still headed to towards Kyoko and Rindou, but his Bagworm's off..?"

"Isn't the Director supposed to favour Kogetsu?" Usami questioned as they watched him Grasshoppper his way across a series of tall buildings, Ibis in hand.

Azuma threw his hands up in mock despair.

"Do I look like Kyoko to you? I'm not the one who works with him twenty-four seven!"

Kido frowned at the tittering crowd of journalists (_read: Shinoda's fanclub_).

As much as it pained him to see his favourite Kogestu-wielding problem child absolutely fail at romance, he wasn't about to entrust the sacred responsibility of shipping him with Kyoko to the media.

"The mischievous brat's probably hoping that everyone will stay far away from him to avoid his bullets and Kogetsu." he replied. "With Bagworm off, everyone will try to avoid him, and he can get some cheap points off with Ibis."

Azuma blinked, momentarily stunned.

"I - well, yes, that does make sense. Interesting - maybe I should teach them how to snipe next time…" he mumbled.

"Does he even know how to snipe?"

"I don't even think what he's doing is even called sniping," Karasawa drawled, as the entire room watched Shinoda stroll across the rooftop and aim.

"It's more of him aiming vaguely at the direction he wants to and seeing how many people get engulfed in the explosion."

**oOoOoOo**

"Clear?"

"All clear, Masafumi!" Rindou cheered from his place in the sewers.

"Clear." Kyoko echoed.

"Good…" he said, before firing.

**oOoOo**

For the second time that day, the entire sky lit up.

Kageura winced as he felt his entire body prickle.

Tsuji gave him a sympathetic look as they turned to face the beam of trion that just had to be from the Director.

"Ninomiya better win." he grumbled, as the bullet hit the two attackers.

**oOoOoOo**

The crowd winced as an unfortunate Arashiyama was engulfed in the explosion.

"And that's the entire Kageura Squad down, along with Tsuji and Inukai from Ninomiya squad, along with an extremely unlucky Arashiyama. With that, the upper management takes a comfortable lead, standing at 7 points while Kazama squad sits at second place, just 6 points behind." Karasawa said dryly.

"Maybe Tachikawa can pull something off?"

**oOoOo**

Rindou stopped what he was doing to give his friend a short round of applause, before breaking into a strange victory dance.

"We're going to win, we're going to win, we're going to win~" he chanted, flapping his arms about in mock worship of his best friend.

Kyoko and Shinoda shared a look of faint disgust, before heading towards where Ninomiya had been last seen. With any luck, he should be heading right for them.

They weren't exactly wrong.

**oOoOo**

As it turned out, Ninomiya had been right behind them.

They found out when he began shooting bullets at them, forcing both to pull up shields and retreat.

"Rindou!" Kinuta bellowed. "Are you done yet? Ninomiya's onto them!"

"Patience," Rindou replied sagely. "Good things come in good time."

Shinoda rolled his eyes as he grabbed Kyoko's hand and ran.

"Much like our impending deaths, don't you think?" he snapped, pulling an equally annoyed Kyoko along.

Ninomiya sighed as he broke into a run after them.

Three minutes later, Rindou was finally done, and the two disgruntled members of the upper management had led an equally disgruntled Ninomiya on a wild goose chase around a small neighbourhood, before turning up once more at the main road where the entire fiasco had started.

"Am I great or what?" Rindou bragged. "How many people do you know who can set up traps quicker than me?"

The pair slowed to a jog, exchanging exasperated looks, before coming to halt right at the end of the main road.

It was with the utmost dignity (and reluctance) that Kyoko detached her hand from her superior's grip, choosing to clasp the hilt of her Kogetsu tightly instead.

He gave her a rather apologetic look as an extremely annoyed Ninomiya came into view, still running and blasting bullets at them.

"Grasshopper." he called, just as Ninomiya let out a rather furious bellow of "Gimlet!"

Whatever Ninomiya was expecting, it sure wasn't a series of explosions under his feet.

Very vaguely, he could here Rindou's cheers echoing from the sewer tunnels beneath him.

"I apologize for my friend." he muttered dryly, after successfully escaping the rather unfortunate Meteor traps Rindou had set.

**oOoOoOo**

Whatever strategical meet-up they had planned was swiftly interrupted by Tachikawa's arrival.

"Director!" the distraught attacker cried. "You promised that you would use Kogetsu!"

Shinoda sighed.

Knowing his student, there was no way Tachikawa would let him leave, at least until one of them was cut down.

It took a good chunk of his already thinning patience to not just riddle Tachikawa with holes.

Rindou wasn't really helping matters either.

"Masafumi! Can I borrow Kyoko? Kako wants to know if she wants to come over for fried rice after the match - also, they're trying to kill me."

He turned to Kyoko, who drew Kogetsu warily.

"Please go before Miwa shows up."

As she left, he turned to face Tachikawa.

The younger man let out a loud whoop and a Senkuu in response.

Shinoda sighed again, electing to avoid the strike with a well timed Escudo.

Tachikawa pressed him hard, swiping and forcing him to defend.

_Then again, this could be a good opportunity._

He raised an eyebrow as the younger man managed to nick him.

"You've gotten better." he said, before drawing his second blade, and breaking into a grin.

Tachikawa paled under his teacher's grin.

**oOoOoOo**

"Tachikawa's dead." Azuma said bluntly.

"But… Isn't Tachikawa still alive? He's holding up pretty well against the Director, right?" Usami asked, as they watched an exceedingly nervous Tachikawa parry blows with a still grinning Shinoda.

"That's probably because the Director needs something from Tachikawa - he's probably going to use this as an experiment, actually. If we're lucky, we might get a new optional trigger out of this." Azuma explained.

"I'll bet you anything that it's a trigger for his beloved Kogetsu." Karasawa snarked.

**oOoOo**

Tachikawa was trying very hard to break free from Shinoda's attacks - he was in a continuous cycle of defence against his teacher's slashes and verbal comments.

"Your parents called me." Shinoda hummed, before delivering a rather nasty gash to Tachikawa's leg. "Apparently you failed your latest exam."

Tachikawa shrank under his teacher's disapproving gaze, which flipped back into a cheery grin.

"It's a good thing we're having an Exhibition Match today, isn't it?" he smiled, easily blocking his student's rapidly weakening counter-attacks.

He nodded feebly in response, before deciding to take a chance, and brought both Kogetsu swinging down on Shinoda.

Shinoda blocked it easily, and proceeded to give his student a dazzling smile.

"Lead Kogetsu!"

**oOoOoOo**

"Ah. So that's what it is."

"Lead Bullet combine with Kogetsu, huh?" Azuma pondered. "No wonder he was so interested in Miwa's trigger lately… He must have been messing with his own trigger set."

"He's got a new trigger holder as well," Usami interjected. "Rindou told us that the Director got one like Reiji's."

Karasawa snorted. "I can't imagine Masafumi in Full Arms - that'll definitely be a treat to see!"

"The brat just wants a full arsenal." Kido growled. "He's doesn't need Tamakoma's triggers anyway - all of Border's are practically made for him."

"True," Azuma conceded. "But the Director has more than enough trion to do whatever he wants at this point. If anything, Full Arms won't even put a dent into his trion pool."

_**Notes:**_

**I'm going to try to cut back on the length of these notes - the one from the last chapter was far too long.**

**As you can tell, I was super pumped to write this chapter - I can't believe that I managed to get this out so quickly. Hopefully, it won't be as riddled with errors as the last one. ****（；￣****д****￣）**

**Also, Shinoda will not be getting Full Arms. He doesn't need nor want it, unless he manages to get Kinuta to make him a version that uses almost all the offensive triggers in Border (probably by doing his paperwork for a month). The insane trion boost he gets from his Black Trigger will be more than enough - it'll probably bring his trion stats to at least around Viza's level Organon, which will be revealed later, but until then, feel free to guess!**

**And while Full Arms might be an interesting look, I doubt his fanclub will be pleased - the shields would probably block his pretty face. ****｡ﾟ****(****ﾟ****´Д****｀ﾟ****)****ﾟ｡**

**Obviously, he doesn't have a fanclub in canon. However, he is a pretty popular character, if the 2nd Valentine's day polls (and the other polls) mean anything. Ashihara has also admitted that he is weirdly handsome. Therefore, I have no choice but to agree that yes, Shinoda is pretty gosh darn hot, and that he deserves a fanclub. Everyone who voted for him know what's up. *grins***

**As always, thanks a million to everyone who took the time to read this, and especially to those we left a review! If you enjoyed something or hated something in this chapter, do leave a review below! (Or if you have any suggestions to the story or characters!)**

**(In case anyone was wondering, Ninomiya hasn't bailed out yet.)**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own World Trigger! Daisuke Ashihara does.**

**EDIT: HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR!**

* * *

"Lead Kogetsu!"

Tachikawa's already pale face turned alabaster, a stark contrast to the dark purple tones of his teacher's blade.

Shinoda hefted the Lead Kogetsu, drawing away from Tachikawa, pulling the heavy sword away with him.

"A bit bulky," he noted, grasping the handle with both hands. "Not very feasible." he muttered, abruptly swinging the sword at Tachikawa - albeit at a slower place.

Tachikawa let out a startled yelp when one of his Kogetsu shattered, before dodging the incoming attack with Grasshopper.

Giving his beloved-yet-scary mentor one last terrified look, Tachikawa fled.

"Kido better not let you use that trigger." Kinuta harrumphed. "Look at that horrendous crack you've put in my floor! If that happens outside, are you going to pay for it?"

He studied the cracked pavement, looking over where a good chunk of the blade had simply sank into the cement, leaving only the hilt peeking out.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea." he admitted, struggling to pull out Kogetsu even with the trion enhanced strength. "But it might be useful in dealing with some Neighbours."

At this point, he'd given up on pulling out the sword and simply drawn a new one instead, heading to where his best friend still was.

He'd only been moving for a few minutes before he knew he was in the right place.

The tell-tale banter regarding the merits of fried rice accompanied by the sound of of Hound was a dead give away.

"Director!" Kako greeted respectfully, sending a barrage of bullets his way.

"Kako." he responded, wrapping a shield around himself, directing a more cheerful greeting at the opposing unit's younger member, who gave him a rare smile.

Rindou swung an arm around his shoulders cheerfully, completely at ease despite the bullets swarming them, exploding against their combined shields.

"Masafumi! You sure took your sweet time with Kei, didn't you?" Rindou chattered, letting loose a blast of Asteroid at Futaba.

The girl in question gave him a dirty look, parrying Kyoko's attack, diving behind Kako's shield instead.

"Idaten!"

There really wasn't much choice - Kyoko raised a shield reflexively, and threw her Kogetsu.

"Ow." Kikuchihara deadpanned, pursing his lips as he examined where Kogetsu had lanced through his leg.

"Futaba." Kako reprimanded, noticing her younger team mate standing stock still. "Think carefully before you use Idaten."

The girl nodded seriously, eyeing her surroundings warily.

"Takumi, go deal with Kako." Kinuta hissed. "Let the others go against Kazama - you two, watch out for Ninomiya. He's only a few streets behind."

Kyoko drew Kogetsu once more, keeping a steady shield up as she backed away from Kikuchihara, pulling close to Shinoda.

The wary silence was interrupted by Ninomiya's explosive arrival.

"You!" he bellowed, glaring at Rindou, who suddenly looked rather meek. "What on earth was that god-awful tune?"

"Can't handle a bit of Christmas carolling?" Kako smirked smugly.

He sent her a blast of Meteor in response, choosing to ignore her jibe.

"Senkuu." Shinoda muttered, directing the piercing attacks around his shields and straight at Futaba instead.

Kikuchihara's voice floated from somewhere around him.

"Yeah, good choice. Idaten's too annoying to deal with."

Kyoko's head snapped up at the disembodied voice, but seeing Shinoda shake his head, she returned to her continued onslaught on Futaba.

**oOoOoOo**

"Good choice by Kyoko - throwing that Kogetsu was the best move available." Azuma commented.

"Futaba's grown up too," Usami said tearfully. "She used to use Idaten _all _the time."

"Well done." Kido rumbled.

"A heart-warming moment indeed." Karasawa said dryly. "Now all we need is for Masafumi to stop using Kogetsu, Takumi to -"

He stopped as he felt Kido give him a stony stare.

"Right." Azuma said. "Tachikawa's ran into Kitora now - Kei's distracted by the wires and her now, perfect opportunity for Ken to do his double snipe, but Miwa doesn't seem to be wanting to help Kei - if anything, he's probably going to take out Ken as soon as Kei gets shot."

"Fun times." Karasawa muttered, his tone slightly more subdued.

They watched as Satori shot his double snipe jubilantly, taking out a silently grateful Tachikawa (he really didn't feel like running into Shinoda again), and got stabbed through the back by Miwa.

**oOoOoOo**

"MIWA?!" Satori yelped.

"Goodbye." Miwa responded, hurriedly pulling Kogetsu out and jumping off the roof, eager to get another point in before the remaining members of Arashiyama squad got a chance to regroup.

"TSUJI!" Yosuke called cheerfully, ruining any hope of stealth. "Nice kill!"

He glowered darkly in response, fighting the urge to _accidentally _stab his friend.

Yosuke must have been dropped on the head as a child, Miwa mused, momentarily losing himself in his thoughts, leaving his friend ample time to throw an arm around his shoulder.

No matter, Miwa decided. A good old-fashioned Kogetsu to his neck would give him the respite he needed.

He studied his friend's neck seriously, wondering how much of a bonus Shinoda would give him - Yosuke had begun bugging the Director, barging into his office _\- technically the Director and Koyoko's shared office-_ throwing himself onto his desk, pleading for a quick spar and generally causing a small disturbance.

"Tsuji." Tsukimi called, her gentle voice breaking him out of his thoughts. "The Director said that you're not allowed to stab Yosuke, but that he appreciates your offer."

"What!?" The two boys asked simultaneously.

"When?" Miwa questioned, shrugging off his friends arm, resolving to stab him after the match.

"This morning." she responded. "He sent me an email at 2 a.m."

Yosuke whistled, loudly, briefing forgetting that Miwa had wanted to kill him.

"Man, the Director's sleep schedule is whack. How on earth does he still have good skin? I swear, my Mom's got a million of those creams things and she still looks old."

"Skin?" Miwa questioned half-heartedly, more focused on finding Kitora.

"Yeah!" Yosuke answered cheerily. "Mom's got a huge crush on him - Dad's getting kinda jealous, probably because she keeps replaying all the press interviews he's in."

He stopped to give his friend a hard look.

"You're lying." He accused.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Yosuke said solemnly.

"Isn't the Director too young for your mother?" A foreign voice rang out.

The two turned to face a Kitora who seemed to be already regretting her outburst.

"I mean that, er, you shouldn't be discussing the Director being a fantasy love interest of your mother -" She said, rapidly trying to back-pedal her way out of the situation.

"Aw, let my Mom have her fun!" Yosuke pouted. "Besides, it's not like the Director's that young - he's 31, isn't he? Mom's like only 10 years older than him."

"31?" Kitora choked, battle forgotten. "Azuma said that he's 33!"

Miwa frowned at both of the idiots standing in front of him.

"Azuma's lying. The Director's the same age as Rindou - they're both 28."

The two agents looked far too surprised for their own good.

**oOoOoOo**

"Oops." Azuma mumbled sheepishly, avoiding Kido's annoyed glower.

"Paperwork." Kido hissed, covering his microphone. "For getting in the way of our pre-determined plan."

Karasawa smirked.

"Paperwork for you too, Katsumi." Kido growled. "Wipe that smirk off your face."

* * *

_**In which a mother regrets having a son**_

"Oh, my dear Masafumi…" The lady said tearfully. "I'm so sorry that our relationship had to come to that." She said, sniffling, as she watched the live news broadcast.

"I'll make sure to properly discipline Yosuke when he comes home." she said, her eyes narrowing.

Her husband gulped beside her.

_Good luck, son._

* * *

**NOTES:**

**I know Shinoda and Rindou aren't 28, but it is awkward to have such a weird (and large) age gap between Kyoko and him - Karasawa's still a year younger than the old Border duo, so it's still kinda OK. I mean, everyone looks super young in the manga, right?**

**Lead Kogetsu didn't really get a chance to shine, but that's fine- that's what the next chapters are for! **

**I do realise that this is an Exhibition Match and that both Miwa and Arashiyama Squad would never be caught dead chatting in a real one, but while this is meant to showcase Border's elite and their fire-power, it would be favourable for Border to show that even the A-rankers are like normal kids and that Border is still a chill place - probably would serve to boost enlistment places by seeing how 'friendly' A-rankers are too. **

**Also, I feel like Kitora would be curious about Shinoda as well, given that he is her superior.**

**Had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I hope everyone enjoyed it too. **

**I'd also like to apologize for the atrocious grammar in the opening lines of the last chapter - I'll get around fixing it soon. I'll also be checking up my grammar again in the next few days, so I might have to edit and re-upload a few chapters.**

**If you enjoyed this, leave a review, or follow the story so you can get updates! If you hated it, tell me why!**


	7. Chapter 7

**IT'S ALIVE!**

* * *

Miwa studied Kitora's face intensely.

For a person who didn't watch Pokemon, she was doing a surprisingly good imitation of a shocked Pikachu.

Yosuke was the first to recover, taking the revelation (he'd gotten used to being shocked) in his stride, casually shrugging it off.

"Kinda makes sense, now that you think about it." He said, unperturbed. "Guess Mom's gotta find a new crush."

Kitora shook her head, trying and failing to clear her mind of the image that Yosuke had presented her with - a middle-aged lady fawning over the Director.

She shuddered, resolving to never inquire about Yosuke's mother again.

Her dramatic shudder was swiftly interrupted by garbled chatter from Miwa's radio, who listened intently before coming to a decision.

"Bye." Miwa said flatly, dragging Yosuke away by the collar, heading back in the direction they had come from.

Kitora nodded curtly, turning back to rendezvous with Tokieda, wary to keep her guard up.

Yosuke gave Miwa a sideways glance, bursting into excited chatter as soon as Kitora was out of earshot.

"Hey, you didn't shoot her!" He said, face breaking out into a cheerful grin.

He waggled his eyebrows playfully at his friend's sullen expression.

"Come on, we'll get a chance to cut her down later." He promised. "Assuming the upper management don't get to her first."

Rather surprisingly, Miwa grinned.

**"_Unless we get her now."_**

**oOoOo**

"Tokieda, I've identified that Miwa and Yoneya are still heading back towards their initial location. Whereabouts of Narasaka and Kodera are still unconfirmed, but -" She was cut off by two simultaneous shots, each bullet heading directly towards her.

"BANG!" Usami cheered.

"Bang indeed." Kido muttered. "Maybe Satori shouldn't be teaching the C-class agents."

"I agree." Azuma said seriously. "Who knows what influence Ken could have on them?"

**oOoOo**

Things weren't going as smoothly as Ninomiya hoped - not that he had been expecting the upper management to be pushovers, but really, this was incorrigible.

He'd pulled up a shield instinctively when Shinoda drew Kogetsu, having been on the receiving end of an unexpected Senkuu far too often from his younger years, and his instincts proved useful when the piercing attacks changed course and lunged at him instead.

Shinoda, for his part, looked faintly pleased.

"Very good," he praised, automatically sliding into mentor mode.

Ninomiya let a satisfied smirk appear on his face.

The smirk widened into a smug grin as he heard the familiar hissing of Scorpion being drawn - nowhere near him, thankfully.

Despite the annoying barrage from Rindou and the fact that he was caught in the crossfire between the upper management and Kako squad, Ninomiya was feeling perfectly content.

He was in the perfect position to watch Kazama squad's surprise attack.

**oOoOo**

Rindou saw the upstart's smug grin and instantly understood the situation.

Kazama was here.

Ninomiya's gleeful face and the signature hissing of Scorpion were dead give-aways.

A quick glance at an carefully expressionless Kyoko confirmed his thoughts.

Kazama was after them, and them alone.

He risked a glance at Shinoda, even as he felt the edge of a blade sink in the nape of his neck.

_Kikuchihara,_ Rindou decided. _It would be in character for him to just go for me to mess with us._

He locked eyes with his friend, and instantly wished he hadn't.

* * *

**Miwa Squad copying Satori's double snipe is a mood.**

**(●｀･ω･)ゞ＜Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'M STILL ALIVEEE**

* * *

**oOoOoOo indicates the start of flashback**

_This__ represents current time-line's thoughts_

_This represents thoughts in the current section's time-line._

* * *

**oOoOoOo**

"Cut the cameras." Kido said quietly, as he took in Shinoda's expression. "End the match."

Azuma nodded as the screen swiftly focused on Miwa's irritated face while he announced that the allocated time for the match had ran out.

**oOoOoOo**

It was the same hysterical look his friend had worn during the first invasion.

Fear of the unknown.

He'd been weapon-less when Rindou found him, Fujin grasped in trembling hands long after Mogami's communications had been cut.

5 years later, even with Kogetsu in hand, his eyes radiated fear.

His panic was well hidden, but to the ones who'd fought through the first invasion, it was blindingly obvious.

Rindou could see his friend scrambling to understand whatever he was seeing, just before he blanked out.

**oOoOoOo**

Kyoko remembered that look.

It was the same face he'd made when they'd found Miwa, minutes after Jin had passed by the same boy.

At the time, he'd been careful to maintain a calm expression, but she'd caught a glimpse of the undisguised panic when he'd first realised the body Miwa had been cradling was stone-cold.

At that time, he'd schooled his face back into its usual façade.

**oOoOoOo**

Kazama's serene face stared at him from behind Kyoko, Scorpion pressed against her neck.

Kikuchihara face was turned away, but Shinoda's would have recognised the brunette anywhere.

That meant that it was Utagawa's blade pressed against his neck.

Despite his incoming decapitation, Shinoda couldn't help but catch Kyoko's eye.

Her eyes were just as wide when they'd first met during the invasion, but trust had replaced the fear that had once filled her eyes.

He wondered if the terror in his eyes had been the last thing Mogami saw.

**oOoOoOo**

_Its was hard._

_Hard to know that every step, every second would cause yet another death, add another yet body to his ever-growing pile._

He gazed at her mournfully, torn between her wide eyes and the pipe that she wielded.

_The same eyes he'd made-_

_To offer her Kogetsu would practically be a death sentence and yet if he left her alone - _He shuddered.

_Had this been how Jin felt? To know the outcome and be forced to bear it?_

The roaring of yet another gate opening forced his hand.

Shinoda thrust the trigger into her hand, hilt first, wrestling the yowling cat from her grip.

His heart sank as a rabbit emerged.

A rabbit wouldn't be much problem if he was alone, but with a terrified cat in hand and equally terrified civilian behind him, he was beginning to doubt himself.

_You should,_ his mind said snidely. _Mogami died for you._

_As did many more-_

He flinched, lurching forwards.

The rabbit turned it's blank gaze towards him.

Instinct kicked in.

He raised Escudo automatically, blocking off the main road.

_1\. If the enemy is in range, so are you._

He ducked as the rabbit swung at him, slamming its fist into a nearby house, startling the poor cat.

_2\. If it's worth shooting at, shoot twice._

Smiling grimly, he drew Kogetsu, slashing at trion soldier.

As the rabbit crashed to the ground and the rubble settled, he heard soft clicking.

_3\. If it can go wrong, it will._

He spun to see what had to be Murphy's law in action.

A Marmod hulking over the girl, mandibles clicking menacingly.

**oOoOoOo**

She held on to Ujicha fiercely, free hand wrapped around a rainwater pipe she had scavenged.

She'd been walking for what seemed like ages, heading in the direction of the city centre while hiding from the strange monsters lurking around.

She'd barely reached the main road when she'd come to a halt, face to face with a solemn man dressed in a coat resplendent to the military dress uniforms despite the sweltering weather.

Kyoko froze as he studied her, waiting with baited breath as his gaze swept over her.

She'd seen enough alien flicks to know that being wary of other survivorswas always the best bet, lest they turn out to be aliens in disguise.

She relaxed as his features softened in concern - surely an alien wouldn't be able to fake such emotions, right?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the increasingly familiar sound of roaring, yet another portal crackling into existence.

She froze, staying stock still even as he tore Ujicha out her grasp and all but forced a small rectangular object in her hand.

Her heart plummeted as the hulking alien lumbered towards them, it's blank gaze directed at them.

**oOoOo**

Her mouth hung, slack-jawed, as she stared at the man dodge the alien's blow, calmly taking it in stride, maintaining his iron-clad grip on her parent's cat.

She would have watched on longer if she hadn't recognised the tell-tale clicking.

_He should have paid more attention-_

An oversized roach-like alien eyed her as it skittered across the pavement, fluorescent eye clearly focused on her.

Kyoko risked a backwards glance at man who had somehow drawn a sword from a similar contraption that he had passed her, before coming face-to-face to the oversized-roach, it's surprisingly sharp mandibles raised in attack.

_In the face of death, a stupid plan is better than no plan._

Mimicking the man's stance (sans the cat), she willed the sword to appear, begging the luminescent blade to make an appearance.

Despite the alien's lack of facial features, it managed a look of comical surprise as it's mandibles clanged against her blade, bouncing off harmlessly.

Seizing the opportunity, she swung at alien, slashing at its lone eyeball, drawing back as the alien folded into itself, collapsing.

A second blade erupted from it's eye, pale green vapour streaming from the wound.

_How desperately he wanted to just cut his way through these weird, inhuman things just like he had with the Marmod-_

She shrunk at the blade's sudden appearance, pulling back.

His solemn expression broke into a soft smile, dark eyes illuminated to a faint emerald by the steady stream of vapour, before turning back to the main road.

When Kyoko caught up with his long strides, his eyes were still light, even though the green vapour had long since petered out.

**oOoOoOo**

_The match was over, so why was he still here?_

Utagawa stiffened as Shinoda turned his head, flinching softly when he realised that the Director's eyes were set in a blank stare.

He paused, as did the rest of the battlefield, turning to stare at the Director's disturbing gaze.

He almost dropped Scorpion when Shinoda swept his gaze across everyone, eyes completely devoid of emotion.

"Director?" Utagawa whispered.

If Shinoda had heard him, he gave no indication.

Scorpion was slippery in his hands now, and he struggled to keep a proper grip on it, not wanting to accidentally drop it.

He was getting unnerved now, and he'd stiffened up completely behind the Director, his feet rooted to the ground.

He wanted to leave, to hide from this - this completely dead-eyed Director, to run or plunge Scorpion through him and get some eye-bleach or whatever.

There was something wrong with this scene - everyone's gaze was locked on the Director, yet he could feel the pricking feeling of what seemed to be hundreds of eyes staring back at him.

It was like someone - no, something else, was there.

**oOoOoOo**

Fear raged through his mind as he dismissed theory after theory - Kazama had them cornered, but that wasn't nearly as important as what he was focused on.

There wasn't any real reason to be scared anyways - they were just soft outlines of trion.

Yet his heart had hammered and his body stiffened at the sight.

For the first time in 5 years, Shinoda was afraid.

Oh, he'd been slightly nervous during the battle against Enedora, not quite sure whether the Neighbour would rise to his challenge, but the bait was too good and he'd been easily taken care of.

Even the battle during the trip to the Neighbourhood had seemed relatively fun.

But this - this was just like when Mogami had-

**oOoOoOo**

His head spun when he woke up.

Patches of black dotted his vision, and as his head slowly cleared, Shinoda strained to hear the conversation enveloping him.

"It was like the First Invasion again-"

"We need to call off the conference-"

"We cannot call off the conference." Kido said, voice tight.

"He needs treatment!" Kyoko insisted.

"We need Masafumi to-" Karasawa started, stepping forwards diplomatically.

Shinoda sat up just in time to see Kyoko round on Karasawa angrily.

"Katsumi, you acorn." She hissed. "One more word, and I _will_ stab you."

The man sat down, mollified, as Kyoko turned her attention Kido.

"As for you," she snarled, "I will carve that stupid car of yours into a million little pieces if that's the last thing I do."

Silence reigned as the room tried to process what had just happened.

Shinoda took the opportunity to smile sweetly and say hello.

As the people in the room flushed an unflattering shade of red _\- except Kyoko (and Rindou, he supposed, but that was due to his friend's lack of shame)-_ and muttered a few choice words, he turned up the charm as high as he dared and flashed an even brighter smile at Kyoko.

"Thank you for your assistance, Miss Sawamura." he said, his smile miraculously still in place. "Your interest in my well-being was most flattering."

_Ah, blast. Now he sounded like an idiot._

Rindou certainly thought so, and let his feelings be known with a sharp jab.

Shinoda actually flinched at the jab, his ribs smarting painfully where Rindou had poked him.

Sufficient to say, it did not go unnoticed.

Kido was as blunt as ever.

"How long do we have?" He demanded, eyes narrowed in appraisal.

"Two hours."

"Half an hour." He stared at Shinoda expectantly.

When nobody moved, he pushed Shinoda in Kyoko's direction.

"Don't just stand there." He said coldly. "Go talk with the reporters! I've already told them that we're going to have an informal meet at the hall - I'll have Tachikawa bring down your things in half an hour. And take Miss Sawamura with you - I need someone to make sure you actually get to the hospital."

* * *

**Woah! I hope this makes up for the shortness of the last chapter, though it kinda sucks that I didn't get to write Lead Kogetsu in.**

**Past-me was going to use Lead Kogetsu in a deleted fight scene, but it wasn't really flowing well and I wanted to give more thought into it.**

**Also: Shinoda's accepted Mogami's death as not his fault in this fic, but it doesn't stop him from wondering whether he could have saved Mogami, especailly since Mogami was Jin's father figure.**

**Jin, Kido and Rindou will a surprisingly big role in the creation of Fujin.**

**Lastly, please rate and review! What did you enjoy? What dd you hate? What did you find mediocore?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Waiting for more news about the anime :)**

* * *

He was all smiles when he entered the hall, Kyoko and Rindou in tow.

A genuine smile graced his face as he spoke with the press, any hint of the usual reserve he had towards them, gone.

They'd taken the compliments from the press graciously, Rindou with his usual swagger and the others with polite smiles.

"That's a new look, Director." Azuma said, letting out a low whistle.

Miwa appeared besides Azuma, grumpy face pulled in a forceful grin.

"Congratulations." He said stiffly. "Some of the replays were quite interesting."

Shinoda ruffled the boy's hair gently, faintly amused when Miwa's mouth twisted into a grimace.

"You too, Miss Sawamura. Azuma tells me you were the one who got Izumi."

Kyoko beamed at him, before wrapping the sullen boy in a bear hug.

"DIRECTOR!" Miwa cried. "Get her off!"

Interestingly, he didn't try to fight her off, despite his loud protests.

"Don't struggle," Azuma advised from beside Shinoda. "It's better to let her run through the whole thing."

"Will it make her let go of me faster?"

"No, but it'll be more fun for us to watch."

Miwa heaved a heavy sigh as Kyoko squeezed him tighter.

Shinoda jerked his hand back when she brushed against him, instantly pulling back whatever trion that had leaked out.

_He was at least an hour early._

"Director?"

He waved them off off, his easy posture stiffening, hands clenched.

Kyoko's eyes were instantly identified the source of his discomfort.

"Sir, you're bleeding!"

He nervously laughed in response, hastily wiping the blood off.

"Just a small cut." He lied.

Miwa gazed at the deep red-purple blood suspiciously, watching as as the tiny wound slowly clotted.

"When did you cut your hand?"

He floundered for an answer as he swiped a wad of tissues from a nearby table _\- lying had never been his strong suit, especially not to children -_ Rindou, having no such qualms, swooped in to save him.

"Just now, on your sharp intellect, obviously." Rindou teased.

Miwa's face flipped from concern to a sneer, mouth opening to no doubt hurl a scathing insult -

He seized his opportunity and edged away, scanning the crowd for Kido.

He flinched as he bumped into Netsuki, who shook his currently blood-free hand.

"Well done, Director. A suspenseful match indeed, we'll definetely get some sponsorships out of it. And that conversation between Shuji and Yoneya will be sure to rack up views…"

His gaze remained hopeful even as Shinoda yanked his hand away.

"I don't suppose you'll agree to having another Exhibition Match again? It would be an excellent opportunity to boost Border's -"

The man droned on, not noticing as the younger man proceeded to successfully staunch the wound on his now bloody right hand.

"It would be more interesting if we had the rest of the A-rank squads." Shinoda offered, trying to not get any more blood on his sleeves. "And maybe just the A-rankers as well. It might be too unbalanced if we were there."

Netsuki bobbed his head thoughtfully.

"Yes, you're right. I'll make sure that we have more time to prepare, and maybe invite some more press - I've heard that the BBC is interested in running a new programme regarding Border and that -"

Kyoko as usual, was his saving grace, appearing by his side and apologising profusely for the interruption.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Shinoda turned to a mildly horrified Netsuki, who had just noticed the disproportionate amount of blood soaking through the the tissues he was still holding.

"I apologise for the blood." He said, leaving the older man frantically checking his hands.

Kyoko fell into step beside him.

"You shouldn't make fun of him, Director." she said, torn between being annoyed and amused. "You know he has a delicate temperament."

He gave her a side-long glance, tilting his head in puzzlement.

"I wasn't."

Kido tried his best to console a horrified Netsuki.

**oOoOoOo**

For once, Shinoda approved of whoever that had picked out his clothes.

The pitch-blackness of his coat masked any traces of blood perfectly, although he could have done without the silver fastenings and pale gloves, which were now flecked with blood.

He shot a final look of contempt at the bloody fastenings, before giving up to face Kyoko, who stood by him, patiently holding his bag.

He really wasn't in the mood to drive.

When she started to head out of the underground car-park, he'd jumped.

Kyoko was either a mind-reader (_Shinoda sincerely hoped not_), or he had just spoken out loud.

Judging from the look of mirth on her face, it was probably the latter.

"We can get a taxi from the city centre if you don't want to drive." she offered, before casting him a worried glance. "Although it might be better if we call one to HQ if you're not feeling well…"

"No, let's walk." He replied. "I'd rather not have to call Kinuta to ask him to let a taxi into the Forbidden Zone again."

She cringed, recalling the time they had been forced to wake up an irate Kinuta to allow a taxi to pick up a drunk Karasawa after his off-key singing became too unbearable despite the fact that their office was nowhere near his quarters.

He smiled as she scrunched up her face, obviously trying to forget that particular memory.

Shinoda offered her his left arm jokingly, a reflex from his grandmother's many lessons.

He almost jerked it back when she took the pro-offered arm, casually threading her own through his.

A quick glance at her face confirmed that her mind was simply wandering and was probably too occupied by her thoughts to pay him much mind.

Well, he sure wasn't going to complain.

His grandmother's voice suddenly bored through his mind, her usually kindly tone hardening to the no-nonsense one she reserved for lecturing.

He could just see her dressed sharply with her favourite coat, seated beside his amused grandfather.

_Shinoda Masafumi,_ she'd say, _I taught you better then that!_

She would shake her head and give him a disappointed look.

_Your mother would be scandalised._

His mouth twisted into a small smile as he imagined how his mother would react.

Perhaps that stupid trion organ of his wasn't that bad.

**oOoOoOo**

Her mind had been wandering when the Director had offered her his arm - he probably just meant it as a friendly gesture - but that didn't mean that she had to take it.

It was probably just one of the many nice things that the Director did because he was a nice person, an action that was supposed to be politely refused and thus dealt with.

You probably weren't supposed to slip your arm through and act like it was completely normal for a subordinate with completely platonic feelings towards her superior.

_Completely platonic, _Kyoko repeated.

Maybe if she repeated it enough, it would come true.

In the meantime, she kept her right arm firmly wrapped around his and pretended that absolutely nothing was going on.

_After all, her feelings were completely platonic, weren't they?_

_And even if they weren't - well, the Director sure didn't seem to mind._

That was, at the very least, true.

She'd glanced at his face subtly, noting that he seemed to be in a remarkably good mood - though that might just be down to the fact that he got to avoid the press.

Still, she could see the faintest hints of smile on his face, and took solace in the fact she had been there to witness it.

When they reached the city centre _\- far too soon, in her opinion -_ she discreetly removed her arm under the guise of trying to flag down a taxi.

**oOoOoOo**

He'd been sorely tempted to snatch her arm back, but they had already attracted a small crowd of civilians, most of whom seemed to b comprised of _a, young children, and b, their grandparents._

He'd already had his face pinched by a handful of them as he ruffled their grandchildren's hair, mostly because he couldn't escape and they had latched on to his legs.

Kyoko hadn't fared much better, though the fact that she was in the process of flagging down a taxi had saved her from having her cheeks pinched.

The children didn't really care and proceeded to hug the blood out of her legs.

With immense difficulty, Shinoda detached himself from the children still hugging him, and managed to extract himself from their grandparents as well, thankful that the weather was cold enough to warrant gloves.

Ever the gentleman, he pulled the door open and waited.

And waited.

_Oh. He'd forgotten about the children._

She'd been swarmed by them, caught between being hugged and having her ears talked off.

She fought them off with a combination of quick hugs and soft pats, practically collapsing into the cab.

_Ah, children. _

_Cute, adorable, and absolute terrors._

Their driver raised an immaculately plucked eyebrow, but made no comment.

"Destination?" she asked, voice unexpectedly crisp.

"Precious Blood." He managed, suddenly aware that his little visit would probably be leaked to the press.

She waved her hand airily just as Kyoko came to the same conclusion.

"Children," she said distastefully, ignoring the way Kyoko bristled. "Are very fine, until you are forced to interact with them."

She peered at them from the rear-view mirror for a very long time, eyes narrowed in faint appraisal.

"A handsome pair." She conceded, lips curling into a faint smile.

She let out a soft laugh as Kyoko's face turned beet red while Shinoda kept his carefully blank.

"How droll." She sighed. "I do hope that you see fit to bring her for dinner one day - after your grandparents have met her, of course."

He nodded mutely, finally recognising their "driver".

The taxi drew to a stop as they pulled up at the hospital's steps, their elderly driver being helped out by an impossibly cheerful young boy.

She gave them an exaggerated wink as she allowed herself to be ushered into a nearby car, the boy accompanying her talking animatedly.

Kyoko turned to Shinoda as she allowed him to hustle her into the hospital's waiting room.

"Who," she began. "Was that?"

* * *

**Gosh, they're cute.**

**Miwa and Azuma too - they've got a really sweet father-son dynamic in the manga.**

**Hopefully we get to see more of them in the new anime! **

**I just stole the hospital's names from one in Hong Kong - there's actually quite a few schools associated with it (Primary and Secondary), and I believe that the author of Chinese Cinderella studied at one of them too.**

**Please follow this story to know when the latest sporadic update gets released, and leave a review to tell what you think of it (or ask questions)! **


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